nsx

A family member and friend, male recent college grads, have a layover in Cairo from about 1230PM until midnight. They are interested in seeing the Pyramids. Ideally they would go with a tour group, but I have a feeling the afternoon schedule would not work.

1. What are their options for getting to see the Pyramids?

2. Will the two of them be safe?

3. Is there a place in the Cairo airport to safely store their carry-ons for 8 or 9 hours?

IAN-UK

Plenty of time, and of course they'll be safe. Note that leaving airside (i.e. entering Egypt) entails a $25 visa charge.

They could make a do-it-yourself trip, though they'd need to be confident enough to deal with taxi drivers and face significant hassle from putative guides/sellers/tricksters. It entails taking a taxi from the airport to the entrance (you can negotiate a round-trip), buying a ticket from the office and off you go. I think the basic entry fee is still EGP80, just under USD15. More to pay to go inside a pyramid (not sure why you'd want to though).

I think the secondary, eastern "sound&light show" entrance is more friendly than the main, northern gate. It is next to the Sphynx, usually much less crowded, and you get a great view of the pyramids, even though they are quite a hike (or horse ride). But it might be closed.

There is no requirement for guides or people to buy tickets for you or horse rides: you will be offered these services endlessly and sometimes forcefully - a polite refusal without full engagement is the best way to deal with it, but it can become wearing. The taxi driver might stop at an agency close to the site to "arrange tickets" (i.e. earn commission on services) - this is where you need to be firm. However, remember the guides/touts are just trying to earn a living, so try to be polite and good-humoured in your dealings with them.

An agency arranged trip would avoid most of the hassles.

In recent years I've only used T3 at Cairo (the egyptair and *A terminal). There are baggage facilities there as well as agencies who can arrange pyramid tours: it's their bread and butter! Clearly a car+driver/guide is not going to be the cheapest option.

There is some chatter in this thread on Egyptair tours for transfer passengers, you could search it out.

mecabq

Definitely doable, and a good idea to kill a layover. It should be a 60- to 90-minute drive from the airport to the pyramids each way in average traffic (though my experience was before the Arab Spring, so I am not sure about the traffic patterns these days).

IAN-UK

You might like to look at this post, and its thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...l#post22922138

QDDawg

totally doable, and I would highly recommend seeing the pyramids with the opportunity. If your friends want to see the pyramids via horseback I highly recommend FB Stables(they also have camels you can ride as well) - I went there a few years ago, was able to arrange them to pick me up from my hotel, take me to the stables (near the sphinx entrance). Then you ride out in the desert and around the pyramids, they can work with you to get the entrance tickets into the pyramid if you want to climb down into the tomb. You can get on and off the horses and climb around on the pyramids or go in or whatever. Personally, this was a highlight of all the trips I've been on, I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie. You can see a lot on horseback and a lot faster. They take care of their horses as we would in USA.
They might be able to work out your transportation to and from the airport.

http://www.fbstablesgiza.co.uk/

Ahmed was my guide, I went by myself on this ride and had a blast - Good Luck and I hope your friends take advantage of seeing the pyramids

pinniped

No idea what's changed since my visit in 2009, but at that time the last entry into the Great Pyramid itself was 1PM. There was a morning entry and an afternoon entry...and that was winter. I don't even know if the afternoon entry happens in the summer.

That said, you can (and should!) still go and explore the grounds around the pyramids and the Sphinx.

We also had our cabbie run us down to Saqqara and Dahshur. Both of those sites are relatively unpopulated by tourists - in a way, we enjoyed both sites more than Giza. We were able to enter the North Pyramid fairly late in the day and were the only people in there. There's something a little trippy about being next to a massive pyramid with no other human beings in sight except for a couple bored guards and a cab driver.

nsx

Thanks for all the encouragement!

What's the best way to protect carry-on bags during this tour? Is there a secure locker facility at the Cairo airport?

memsrr

I have a 22 hour planned stopover in Cairo at the end of June. As a solo woman I booked a car, driver, and tour guide for a 12 hour tour for $147. Your plan is totally doable. They totally organized the tour around my interests. Everyone says they feel very safe and the tourist population is greatly reduced which is bad for Cairo but great for us tourists. If you don't have a local guide you will be harassed unmercifully by people trying to sell you things at the pyramids. Times are tough for them and they are just trying to feed their families.

pinniped

I'd recommend that for anyone, regardless of gender or party size. I don't know whether it's even possible to rent your own car: all I know is that I'd never do it in Cairo even if it's allowable!!

Regarding the earlier question about the carryon, I'd probably just chuck it in the trunk of the car. The car is quite likely to be a Toyota Corolla or similar: that's what a lot of the "modern" cars were in Cairo. The driver pretty much stays with the car all day (whether you have a separate tour guide or not). The major tourist sites have large and busy taxi waiting areas since so many tourists do exactly this. Normal cautions apply: keep you most important valuable on your person at all times. But I don't think a small bag is at high risk to get stolen from the trunk of the cab.

nsx

Thank you. That's what we're arranging. The baggage will be checked through (as long as the connection is less than 24 hours) so I think this will work fine. The only trick will be staying awake after a very long flight in coach.

nsx

I'd like to report a 100% successful visit to the pyramids and Tahir Square during a 12-hour layover. We booked it in advance. No problems.

Thanks for all the great advice here!

pinniped

Awesome. ^

China Clipper

Thanks for your report; would love more details.

I keep getting wildly conflicting advice regarding the propriety of a visit to Egypt.

nsx

Ping me in 2 weeks. They are very far offline now, somewhere near the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

nsx

Their 12-hour layover tour, arranged in advanced with a private driver, was mostly enjoyable. They felt quite safe and were able to see the pyramids and Tahir Square with virtually no tourists present. That's an unusual opportunity IMHO. I have a picture of them on camels in front of a pyramid with nobody else in the frame across the entire pyramid.

The only reported annoyance was the driver's strident Islamism. It's odd for someone with a radically anti-Western outlook to be working in tourism, but OTOH I'd rather have a tour guide who is open about his anti-Westernism than one who conceals it. I'm pretty sure I had that during my last visit 23 years ago.

Your Muslim May Vary. In fact, you will probably get a very likeable tour guide. I am not prepared to recommend this excursion to young women, but for males it looks OK to me.